From the 3rd to 6th June 2025 I completed my Year 10 work experience with La Vida Liverpool which was really fantastic and really opened my eyes to the working environment and how Justin Hopper single handedly does his job, sharing and spreading positive news.
Positive news is one of the main aspects of La Vida Liverpool as Justin shows happiness and passion for his job and displays this through his actions and his magazines. Justin shows positivity and kindness by the way he treats those surrounding him as his beliefs are “that you should try and change the world even by doing something small”.
Justin is not a pressure seller to his clients and comes across with a friendly approach who wants the best for his clients, he tries his best to get their story out into the newspapers such as the Echo, when Justin gets the articles into the big press his name is not shown but Justin isn’t bothered by that and wants his clients to receive more press coverage for them to excel.
Throughout my work experience I have had the opportunity to make phone calls to potential clients and existing ones. One day of work for Justin is more like a week’s work for anyone else! La Vida Liverpool’s work experience has not only given me opportunities to speak to clients via technology but also face to face by going to many business meetings.
By being able to go to many business meetings it has shown me the fantastic PR La Vida Liverpool has to offer. One day during my work experience we visited ‘The Swinging Arm’ to promote everything they have going on which is exciting, a great and lively place to go and spend an evening for live music.
After having an interesting meeting with ‘The Swinging Arm’ we then went to a modelling agency exploring what they offer and look for. The third face to face meeting of day one was with ‘Primal Live Song Contest’ who offer so much and have now brought out a podcast room.
Justin Hopper helped me understand and embrace the mindset of you can do anything if you really believe and try hard, as effort is everything. Justin started off with the love and passion for English during school and started off writing poems whilst on the train, this then expanded into him to running a big operation which is La Vida Liverpool, which he runs all by himself, this is really inspiring as he loves his job and doesn’t see it as work.
During work experience I experienced big clients such as Hooters, when talking and thinking about Hooters as a teenage girl I had doubts because of bad press. Whereas when actually stepping into Hooters it was pleasantly surprising and this was because it was packed with families and a warm and friendly atmosphere coming from the employees, this is down to the owner of Hooters in Liverpool as he takes care of his staff and customers. Hooters was filled with great vibes and music, mouth watering food and the staff were so polite, overall Hooters was perfect.
There were a variety of businesses we visited and hidden treasures where discovered, such as a beautiful book shop in New Brighton named ‘Fletcher & Frost’ which is a community book shop that offers a range of different genres of books and many different clubs such as poetry club and many more. This book shop creates a place with a sense of grandeur, not to mention a great place to grab a great coffee. Also, New Brighton Hotel, Bar & Lounge which is a lovely venue with great food and entertainment.
I had a fabulous encounter with a brand new kitchen all the way from America called ‘Susu’s New Orleans Kitchen’ in Liverpool which was probably the best food I’ve ever had. Adam and Reggie who have created Susu’s are really interesting and genuinely so nice and warming people who want people to be happy with food as the recipes mean a lot to them. The story behind the name of Susu’s is heart warming and when eating the food you can taste the love that has gone into it.
Another great opportunity my work experience offered was being featured for two hours on the Wirral Wave Radio, sadly one of Justin’s guests had problems making it to the studio so my 5 minute segment turned into a full one hour interview talking about school, things I like and how my work experience was going.
The second hour Justin and me took it in turns to interview a lovely piano teacher called Melanie Worthington, who wants to help people find and discover a new talent and hobby doing music as it brings people together.
Overall my work experience was amazing and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t want to be sat in a usual office job and would like to explore the world of media using your voice and words to help people and spread positive news.
